X Never Marks the Spot

Watched Warehouse 13's series finale.

My feelings are mixed, and not just because I had to say goodbye to a show I loved. This last mini-season has been mixed but most of the finale was great, entirely suitable to the show - I liked that it wasn't a crisis, that it was about an epic event but not one not yet come to past, nor one they had much part to play in, so ultimately it was a quiet character story. Most of the flashbacks were hilarious and perfect as "eps that could've happened but didn't" and about making the actors look as ridiculous as possible, which is totally in keeping with the show!

I loved the reveal of Artie's son, because it was something that could've been made into extra last-minute angst and instead was cute and sweet and, Artie being Artie, entirely believable that he'd simply never mentioned it before. Also his argument with the Warehouse and its thank you was maybe a bit cheesy but I liked it - the Warehouse's semi-sentience totally hits my kink for places-as-characters. Nice to have Leena cameo, and ahahahahah so petty and hilarious to have Mrs. Frederic telling Jinx everything off-screen, "Was that Mr. Frederic?" indeed! I do wish they'd gotten Abigail in for a bit (did she even warrant a mention? I missed it if so) as I really liked what we saw of her; but she was never a main character and I can see why they kept it limited. And the flashforward at the end worked well, left so much open while reassuring us of the status quo. Plus, Claudia as the Caretaker, hee and yay - I'm glad that she went through with it despite her doubts, it was the future I wanted for her.)

Actually, given Claudia as Caretaker, and that she didn't look much older, I was wondering if the reason the Warehouse rang a false transition alarm was to say a sort of farewell to Mrs. Frederic?

The one thing I could've done without, and which didn't ruin the finale for me only because they kept it small and open enough for me to fanwank over it, is the Pete/Myka. Why, why, why did the writers have to go there? Why couldn't they have left me that one, just that one, in the whole history of TV? I started watching the show because someone told me it had platonic m-f friendship, and Pete & Myka were one of my favorite things in the show. Moreoever, I loved the way Warehouse 13 showed them - and the other characters as well - that it outright stated that not only is romance not the be-all and end-all of happiness, but that you can actually find peace and happiness and family and love even if you're not romantically involved with anyone. That romantic love can be great but it's not absolutely necessary, not for everyone, not for all lives. Peter and Myka were the most important people in one another's lives, and they weren't romantically or sexually involved, and that worked for them, they were both better people for it, for having one another's back, for having one another in a way that was as strong and meaningful as any romance could be, just different. It felt like a punch to my fangirl soul, to refute that at the end - to say that the only way they could possibly make it work long-term is if they're in love and sexually attracted to one another.

(Not to mention, everyone knows the only real romantic OTP in W13 is Myka/HG - to have HG in the ep but not actually have a scene with Myka was fan-baiting of the cruelest sort! Even if it did make it clear that they're still in touch, and also that HG isn't as happily settled as she seemed to be. So there's always the hope that in a month Pete and Myka will realize that they were misinterpreting their partner-love as something else because they didn't have the framework to understand what they actually had, and go back to how they really work. And also maybe have a platonic no-sex baby together because I can't tell you how much I really wanted that to happen! And when HG breaks up with her current dalliance she and Myka can make a real go at it...)

So, yes, in the end the Warehouse 13 finale was mostly a good send-off, and I will fanwank the Pete/Myka away so I can still enjoy the rest of the show. I'm sad to see it go, but enjoyed it greatly while it was here!

Though now I need a new lightweight team-show to get my recommended dose of adorable! For most of the season I thought Agents of SHIELD was stepping up into that role nicely, should've known better than to cozy up to a Whedon show (I actually really enjoyed the end of the season and am looking forward to next year, but yeah, not quite what I'm looking for.) And Arrow is fantastic and team-y - its season finale wasn't quite as strong as most of the the rest of the season, but still left me wanting more - but while's it's often shamelessly comicbook-ridiculous it's not as joyfully goofy as Warehouse 13 could be...

(Meanwhile, if anyone is wondering, YES I AM STILL FREAKING OUT OVER NIGHT VALE OMG OMG OM(smiling)G!!!! It hurts so good and I'm loving it!)

So right now is a great time for platonic m/f friendship on TV, much to my joy!

In the last couple weeks we watched all that's out of Elementary - highly recommended! It does a lot of remarkable things effortlessly and unselfconsciously. Lucy Liu's Joan Watson is amazing and awesome, not the least of which for being a relatable, recognizable human being who also happens to be an Asian-American woman. While when the show was first announced I was disappointed by the changes they'd made to Watson's character (ex-doctor and not ex-military), in the context of the show and the version of Sherlock Holmes they're telling, it makes sense. And she is still absolutely Watson, long-suffering and loyal, if a bit snarkier about it than some.

But then that's par for the course - one of the things that makes Elementary's Sherlock so great is because everyone actually calls him on his shit. And he actually listens (sometimes, to some people), and he tries (even if he doesn't always succeed). ( More squee, no spoilers to speak of )

We've also started watching SyFy's Warehouse 13, and while that isn't what I'd call good TV - oh my god it is so frigging cute it's almost painful. It's not for everyone - it's corny and shallow and obvious, but if you like cute made-family teams being cute together while dealing with unabashedly implausible scifi artifacts, you owe it to yourself to watch this show.

It does have a couple other points to recommend it. Not only does it have more major female characters than male for a good part of the show, but the central partnership is a male and a female agent, both young and white and attractive, who bicker but love working together and love each other and have ABSOLUTELY ZERO UST. Their relationship is sibling-esque all the way without any hint of romance; they're genuinely happy and supportive for their partner whenever they find romance elsewhere. Meanwhile to make up for the lack of sexual chemistry there, it is positively bubbling between the female agent and H.G. Wells. Who is a (canonically bi) woman. Played by the preternaturally gorgeous Jaime Murray of Hustle. (She's also kind of an arch-villain, sometimes, depending, which tension only ups the femslashiness (very deliberate femslash; at her introduction she was briefly paired with Pete, but since then it's Myka who she has all the intense interactions with.))(And while I don't think that 'ship has actually gone canon, H.G./Myka is the most popular pairing in the fandom by an order of magnitude...)

But mostly it's just adorable action-comedy with lots of hugs and goofy scifi peril to the characters in every episode (I swear, every single ep has at least a moment of h/c or worry with someone). It reminds me more of SFC's old Invisible Man than perhaps any other show I can think of; it's a show that knows exactly what it is, and is very happy to be that, with no ambitions to take itself more seriously. And since I adored I-man, and am a sucker for cute teamy h/c, yeah, am enjoying the heck out of W13!